WEEK ONE - 3.28.13

¡Hola familia!

¿Que tal? So you know when you hear missionaries say that they are sorry that they don’t have any time? Ya, well it’s TOTALLY true!!!! But I will try to sum up this week as best I can but I am sure I won’t be able to do it justice so just bear with me :)

So key points of the week:

Saturday we went proselyting in the center of Madrid: So each week we all get assigned to a temporary companion and get to go proselyting! This last weekend we went to the shopping center of Madrid while the other zone went to the park and this Saturday we will switch places. I was assigned to Hermana Benson. We were so excited because we rode over on the plane together and she is a total sweetheart!! So basically what happens is the teachers tell you how to get to the place you’re going and then just let you loose with as many Book of Mormons, pamphlets, pass-along cards, etc. as you want. So Hermana Benson and I got on the metro and we felt pretty good about the directions (plus there were several other missionaries on our car), we got talking to someone (but she ended up not being interested anyway) and I guess we missed our stop because eventually Hermana Benson noticed that the other missionaries weren’t on the car anymore. We decided we needed to get off at the next stop but in the meantime I thought it would be a good idea to talk to this sweet old man. We told him about the church and he was super sweet but just kept saying "I’m Jesus Christ, what do you want to ask me?" We ended up missing the next stop because we were talking to him which was kind of unnerving but then a woman ran up to us and said "Can I please have one of your books?" The metro arrived at her stop and we weren’t able to get her information but quickly handed her a book and a pass-along card with some information on it before she got off the train. We then realized when she got off and the doors closed that we missed yet another stop. There were a lot of funny things that happened that day and I wish I had more time to recap it but oh well, I’ll just tell you about it in a letter.

Gave a talk: So each week we are asked to prepare a talk for sacrament meeting (we don’t find out until after sacrament who is giving it so you need to be ready). Last week we were given the topic of obedience. I procrastinated writing my talk until Sunday morning because I saw that we had an hour of personal time before church. However, after breakfast on Sunday I realized that I had read the schedule wrong and had a leadership meeting with the zone and district leaders during that personal time. I got a little nervous but just kept thinking “what are the odds, I’ll get asked out of the 40-plus missionaries that are here?” but then during the leadership meeting the President told everyone in the room to not stress too much about the talk *sigh of relief* however, he followed up that comment with “we are going to ask missionaries to speak that have more experience in Spanish. He then looked over to me and Elder Day (the zone leader). Elder Day and I are known to be the most fluent in Spanish here because we both took Spanish Immersion so we get called on for EVERYTHING. Lots of prayers, talks, comments, role-playing. I feel super inadequate next to Elder Day who is completely fluent but the challenge to live up to my reputation has helped my Spanish so much and I am feeling pretty fluent now. Which brings me to my next brief point:

I might not be in the MTC for 6 weeks: The president has told me and Elder Day that he doesn’t think we need to be here for the whole time and that we will call our Mission Presidents to see if we can go out earlier. I don’t really care either way. I really like it here. The Spanish classes are really easy (wow that sounded super cocky, sorry) but I love the people and the environment. We’ll see, I’ll keep you updated.

Got a new companion: Yesterday five new missionaries arrived from the Provo MTC. They didn’t get their VISAs on time and I got a new companion! Her name is Hermana King, she is from Lindon and I think we are actually already friends on Facebook. She’s a total sweetheart! She is also very fluent and might not be here for the duration either. Our room is incredibly cozy now with 5 missionaries.

Temple is beautiful. I wish I had more time to expand on this but I don’t. Just know it’s INCREDIBLE. We have gone twice and the spirit is just so strong. I love listening to the session in Spanish. It’s beautiful that this gospel is the same all over the world. I love going to the temple.

I have two “investigators” right now named Juan José and Carlos. I wish I could expand on that but I am afraid I can’t. All I need to say about that is: feel free to tell me about scriptures you found powerful on your mission, especially for catholics and evangelists. The lessons are going really well thought. They are hard but great practice.

I have to go but I love you all. I am having a great time. I’ll try to write more details in letters but time is very limited. Please send letters though! I absolutely love the ones I have received and they help so much!

Love always,

Hermana Tuttle

Sister Tuttle's First Email - 3.20.13

Dear friends and family,
¡Hola! ¿Que tal? So we will have 30 minutes each Thursday (which is our
P-Day) to email home but since we just got here we will not be having a
P-Day tomorrow so we are emailing today (just thought I´d give you a little
background info).
So guess what... I´m in Spain!!!! Are you kidding me??? It´s gorgeous!!! I
know that may seem like way too many punctuation marks for one paragraph
but believe me, it doesn´t even come CLOSE to doing this place justice. The
temple is huge and gorgeous and like ten steps away. It´s kind of unreal!
So, my companion is named Sister Bracken. Mom and dad, she is one of the
sisters we met at the airport. Not the one that came up to me and that was
my "flight companion" but the other one in those pictures. She´s awesome!
We actually just got appointed to be the coordinating sisters for our zone
(which is pretty much like being relief society presidents or something, we
attend meetings, check on the sisters, make sure everyone is doing well,
and do nightly checks) which was a huge shock.
I love the people here. The MTC president and his wife are amazing. My
teacher is also really cool, he is from Spain and doesn´t speak much
English which is pushing me to communicate in Spanish.
I guess I should back up, the flight from Salt Lake to Dallas was actually
pretty fun. There were 10 of us going to Barcelona (5 sisters and 5
elders). Sister Noakes and I thought it felt more like EFY than a mission
but as we took our last steps on US soil as we stepped aboard the plane
headed for Spain things began to get more real. I had one of those "what on
earth am I doing?" experiences but it quickly passed as I remembered all of
the reasons why I KNOW I am doing the right thing.
On the flight to Dallas I had a really good conversation with the lady next
to me named Lisette. She asked so many questions about the church it was
incredible! She has been to Spain many a time so she also had great advice.
Sister Noakes and I ended up giving her a pass-along card. I have no idea
if anything will come of it but she was very impressed with the church and
it was a great experience to have right out of the gate. On the flight to
Madrid a man asked us a lot of questions about the church to but this
conversation wasn´t nearly as hopeful. Oh and thanks Mom for choosing a cute
outfit. I will have worn it for about 36 hours by the time I change
tonight.

Time is up but I will write again soon!
Love always,
Hermana Tuttle